Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Russian State Now Acts as Enforcer for Russian Orthodox Church, Alekseyeva Says

Paul Goble

Staunton,
March 31 – Recent events show that the Russian state has agreed to act as an
enforcer for the Moscow Patriarchate, an accord that points to the further
clericalization of Russian society and that does not bode well for the many
opponents of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to Lyudmila Alekseyeva.

The
Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has long supported the
Russian state, but now, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group says, the state
is returning the favor, acting as its enforcer in clear violation of the 1993
Russian Constitution by making the Moscow Patriarchate “a state religion” (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=authority&id=2137).

Alekseyeva’s
comments to Portal-Credo.ru came after Russian government magistrates
intervened and seized the remains of Suzdal saints that had been kept in a
church of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, a group that is often at odds
with the Moscow Patriarchate but that the latter has not been able to impose
its will.

Now, the
state has intervened, a reflection she suggests of the fact that “the state has
agreed that the Church can use the state apparatus” for its own denominational
goals. In this situation, the Autonomous Church has few good options left
except perhaps to turn to the European Human Rights Court.

When the
Russian police came to act on behalf of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan
Feodor of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church lay down in front of the
shrine, but the police simply stepped over him and went about their business. “I
can imagine the attitudes of belivers,” Alekseyeva said.